With James Reimer being out of tonight’s Leafs game against the Flyers with “whiplash-like symptoms” (hey, whatever…), Jonas Gustavsson gets the start in goal for Toronto. While Gustavsson came to Toronto with heaps of hype two years ago, it’s been as close to a disaster as it can be for him ever since.

His numbers are poor and they’ve been getting steadily worse. He had heart issues that prevented him from getting crucial starts to help him settle into the NHL and now that he is healthy, he’s a mediocre goalie. Fire up the worry machine in Toronto as well as the candlelight vigils for Reimer to get better soon. As coach Ron Wilson told James Mirtle of The Globe And Mail, Gustavsson getting a win in relief against Montreal might be the thing to help him settle in this time around.

Don’t expect Wilson’s words to settle down Leafs Nation, however.

Reimer is the key for how the Leafs season will go, but having a competent backup when things go slightly awry is important too. If Gustavsson can play like “The Monster” he was hailed as when he was signed and stuffs the Flyers tonight, perhaps heads can rest a little easier in Toronto. If he goes back to giving up goals on very stoppable shots, expect to hear the calls for Ben Scrivens or Jussi Rynnas to get a shot to be the backup to grow.

Whatever the final, official numbers end up being, it’s a huge black eye for the city of Vancouver (even if the spin dictates that it was a relatively small piece of the populace). The city also rioted in 1994 following the team’s Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers, leaving about 200 people injured in that incident.

“It’s terrible,” Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said, shaking his head. “This city and province has a lot to be proud of, the team we have and the guys we have in here. It’s too bad.”

This ugly incident makes it tough to argue that the city has progressed much since 1994. If the team makes it to a big stage like this – a likely scenario since elite players, for the most part, remain in place – let’s hope that officials are more prepared and fans are less unruly. If that takes limiting alcohol sales and gatherings around big screens altogether, then so be it.

It’s unclear if Wednesday night’s stomach-churning riots were less severe than, at the same level or even more problematic than the ones that broke out after the team lost in 1994. What isn’t particularly debatable is how expansive the coverage was this time around compared to 17 years ago. The night of June 15 put a black eye on the city of Vancouver, but it was a profound display of the immediate news available on the Internet and the power that comes with Twitter and other social media Web sites.

Few things say “disturbing signs of a riot” quite like widespread car flipping.

Photo credit: Bruce Bennett, Getty Images.

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The photo known around the Internet as “rioters in love.” Nothing says “steamy summer romance” quite like glass on the ground, teargas in the air and chaos in the streets, right? It’s just like prom night!

Unfortunately, the parallels between today’s Vancouver Canucks and the 1994 edition extend beyond a Game 7 defeat all the way toward a violent reaction.

Vancouver authorities were optimistic that Canucks fans wouldn’t riot whether the team won or lost in Game 7 tonight, but it doesn’t look like they got their wish. While it’s unclear how severe the rioting was at this time, it seems like some Canucks fans reacted to their team’s 4-0 loss in a way that continues a sad pattern from 1994. Seventeen years later, they expressed their anger regarding tonight’s defeat by rioting.

Again, it’s unclear at this time how bad the damage was and how many people were injured. The New York Times archives reveals that 200 people were injured during the 1994 riots, but hopefully that situation was more severe than tonight’s ugly incidents. Hopefully no one was seriously hurt during this extremely negative reaction, but it’s a sad moment whenever such a thing happens.

We’ll keep an eye out for updates regarding these regrettable riot-like acts with the hope that we’ve already seen the worst. Perhaps some day fans can find a better way to release their (likely alcohol-fueled) emotions, whether their teams win or lose.

“It is extremely disappointing to see the situation in downtown Vancouver turn violent after tonight’s Stanley Cup game. Vancouver is a world-class city and it is embarrassing and shameful to see the type of violence and disorder we’ve seen tonight.

The vast majority of people who were in the downtown tonight were there to enjoy the game in a peaceful and respectful manner. It is unfortunate that a small number of people intent on criminal activity have turned pockets of the downtown into areas involving destruction of property and confrontations with police.

The Vancouver Police and Vancouver Fire Department are doing an exceptional job under challenging circumstances to maintain control of the situation and keep people safe, and emergency crews are working tirelessly to assist those who were injured.

The priority is public safety and ensuring that people can leave the downtown area to make their way home without further incident. Transit is operating at full capacity.

I urge the public to remain calm and to stay away from central downtown in order to assist police in restoring safety to our streets.”